Overwatch release date confirmed after leak compromises surprise

After a leak almost ruined the surprise earlier this morning, we now know that Overwatch will launch on Xbox One, PS4 and PC on May 24.

A press release sent by Blizzard-Activision confirmed the release date and added information about the game’s beta, which it says will run from May 3rd through the 4th for those who pre-order and May 5th to the 9th for everyone else.

The good news is that, unlike other pre-release betas which essentially serve as demos for the full game, potential players will be able to use all 21 heroes when the game opens its servers for the first time publicly in May.

The game’s director, Jeff Kaplan, released a video on YouTube to accompany the launch that gives more details on what to expect from the fast-paced shooter.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhjeJRrCKNg

The aforementioned leak happened when major video game website IGN accidentally pushed a new ad campaign live before Blizzard could make its official announcement.

But, it turns out jumping the gun (er, laser pistol in this case) wasn’t so bad, as Activision-Blizzard was mere hours away from making the announcement itself.